Frequency Discrimination in Hearing of the Black Sea Bottlenose

Dolphin and the Northern Fur Seal: Dependence on the Stimulus

Parameters and the Pathway of Sound Conduction
E. S. Babushina and M. A. Polyakov

Karadag Nature Reserve, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Kurortnoe, Crimea, 98188 Ukraine

Received March 5, 2001; in final form, April 17, 2002

Abstract—Frequency discrimination thresholds for underwater sounds of varied frequency that were chan-
neled along different pathways were determined using the operant conditioning technique with food rein-
forcement in a Black Sea bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) and a northern fur seal (Callorhinus
ursinus). The animals were tested being either fully or partially submerged (head out of water). In the latter
case, underwater sounds were conducted through body tissues. As the frequency of signals presented to the
dolphin was varied from 5 to 100 kHz, the frequency discrimination thresholds decreased from 0.45−0.60%
to 0.21−0.34%, showing only a slight dependence on the pathway of sound conduction. In the northern fur
seal, the lowest frequency discrimination thresholds for underwater sounds were at the frequencies of his
best hearing sensitivity. As the signal frequency was raised from 5 to 20 kHz, the frequency discrimination
threshold varied from 1.7 to 1.0−2.3%, increasing steeply at the edges of the audible frequency range. Its
values depended only slightly on the pathway of sound conduction. A conclusion was made that underwater
sounds can pass to the inner ear through body tissues in both the dolphin and the northern fur seal.